5 Things to Do If Your Basement Floods

If you have a basement, one of your biggest fears is it flooding. A flooded basement can cause a handful of issues for any homeowner. While you avoid it happening to some degree, you can’t always predict what will happen in and around your home to cause a flood. If your basement floods, these five things can help mitigate the damage and save you money.

5 Steps to Take If Your Basement Floods

The following five steps can help you if your basement floods:

Shut off your water

Examine the damage from afar

Call a plumber as soon as possible

Call your insurance company after calling a plumber

Prepare for what’s to come

Shutting off the water to your home is the first thing – and most important – thing to do if your basement has flooded. This prevents any additional water from flooding into the basement, even if you don’t know what the source of the flood is. This also prevents the sewage line from your home from flooding back into your home.

Never go down into the basement, no matter what’s down there. Flooding can cause items to float throughout the basement creating hazards. Depending on the source of the flood, you may be venturing into sewage and other hazardous waste.

Calling a plumber should happen as soon as you turn off the water. Don’t wait until the next morning – no matter the cost. You want a plumber to come out, determine the source, and put a plan into action to fix the issue as soon as possible.

Once you have called a plumber, call your insurance company no matter the time of day. Let them know what’s happened, that you’ve called a plumber, and what they need from you to ensure coverage during the aftermath.

After all the above steps have occurred, sit down and take a deep breath. There’s more work to come. Once the plumber has identified how the flood occurred, you can take steps to prevent it in the future. You’ll also need to repair any damage that occurred in your basement, which should be covered under your insurance policy.